Well as of today December 17th 2008 Micah is now legal to start driving.(with a parent). And he wasted no time in taking advantage of the newly printed driving permit. He drove Karrie home from Farmington. Tonight we went to dinner for Micah's birthday and of course he had to drive. I think he is a lot more prepared than Mariah was, he has had a motorcycle for a few years and has on occasion drove around the neighborhood or home from church. I just hope he is not over confident. It was really weird sitting in the passengers seat and looking over and watching Micah drive. I can't believe he is old enough to drive, I am not sure how the last 15 years have gone by so fast.
Click to enlarge photo My Dad called me today and asked if I could help him get a picture off of his computer and onto a disk so that he could go and get prints. He is a little bit challenged with the computer. I asked him how he got the pictures on the computer but he could not remember. Since my Dad has done so much for me in my life I love to be able to actually help him with something. The pictures were of a trip he made to Africa about 2 years ago. He has over 2gb of pictures. I am not sure how many exactly but a lot to say the least. And the pictures are incredible, he took some great shots. Many of the photos look like they were taken by a professional. So I thought I would put a few on my blog.
Karrie goes out of town and leaves me in charge. Karrie went out of town last Thursday with the Blogger Mom's and they were gone until Sunday. So that means that I was in charge of everything for almost 4 days wow. And you know what everyone survived. It's actually not the first time I have been left in charge Karrie did go to China for about 10 days. There were no kids harmed, no fires (well unintentional fires), no damage to the house, etc. I think it went pretty good. Well here are the highlights: Thursday Mariah put together all the stuff she needed to ask Acey to the Christmas dance. I ordered 5 Pizzas thinking Mariah's friends would eat like Micahs, I was way off. So we had pizza for the next 3 days. Friday morning I got up and got the girls off to school which is know big deal except when it comes to doing their hair. Luckily I have had some practice and I can do a pretty mean pony tail. So good so far, well here is where some may question my parenting. Friday just happened to be the state semi finals and Cottonwood and Pineview just happened to be playing at 10:30. I decided that Micah and I need some bonding time and they were having a long assembly at the Jr. High. So Micah and I headed up to the U to watch some football. It turned out to be a great game and Micah and I had a great time. So Friday night I asked the girls what they wanted to do and they wanted to go to Carl's Jr.'s, so off we went. They ate a little and played a lot. Saturday I had to turn in all the pads for are football team. We also went and saw Madagascar 2, my Dad came and brought Kobe and Jet (Payton and Riley's cousins) and my girls were so excited to see them. Then Sat. night Kelly invited us over to watch the U game. Kelly smoked some meat and it was great and the Utes won. Sunday Mariah gave a talk in Sacrament and did a great job. And we all waited for Karrie to get home.
While Karrie and I were in St. George we got a call from Payton to inform us that she had got a "4.0 on her report card". Since they don't give letter grades in elementary she got all 4's which is the best grade you can get. She was so excited to tell me and then she wanted me to pass the phone to Mom. I am so proud of her, she really works hard on her school work. I am so glad she has such a inner drive to be the best she can, it is one of the positive things about her having such a competitive spirit.
OK here are my two pictures taken from my laptop files.
This is a picture of Micah, we had been fishing in the river that comes out of Panguitch Lake. One of my favorite memories of this trip is: We were driving towards the lake after we had left Panguitch. It was really dark and we were driving through a canyon trying not to hit any deer. Thats when we saw this sign that said "You are not on Highway 89" Huh!!!! tell me how many road signs have you ever seen that told you where you were not????? I mean most signs tell you information like how many miles to the next city or which road you are on. But a sign telling me where I wasn't, that I figured out on my own. So if your ever down there watch for that sign.
This picture is not the best quality it was taken with our waterproof camera which had just come out of the salt water. This picture was taken in 2006 in Aruba Palm Beach to be specific. This was such a fun day we got of the cruise ship and found the local bus stop and figured out which bus went by Palm Beach. We had been told that Palm Beach was really nice. The bus ride was only $1 each which was such a big difference from the cost of a taxi on the other islands. On the bus Karrie and I met a couple who had sailed there boat from Florida to Aruba. Wow how cool would that be. The beach was awesome, we have been on a lot of incredible beaches through out the Caribbean but the sand on this beach was so soft and smooth and white. The water was beautiful and you could walk about 75 yards out and still touch. There were tons of fish and we snorkeled and played on the beach all day.
OK this is my last post from Friday Oct. 24Th as you can see we had a very busy day with a swim meet and a soccer game. It was also an anniversary of sorts for Karrie and I. It was twenty-one years ago that Karrie and I went on our first date. Wow 21 years is that possible? Karrie was 19 and I was 21. Our first date was very spur of moment. My brother was getting ready to leave on his mission and my parents had thrown a party for him. It just so happened that the party fell on the same night as a Jazz game. My parents had season tickets so my Dad and I were going to sneak away from the party and go. But once the party got started my Dad felt like he should stay so he gave me the tickets and said I should go. But with who???? Well at the party was Robert my old priesthood advisor who I had played a lot of basket with and I thought he would love to go. So I went over to ask him, he was sitting at a table with several girls one of which was Karrie. I asked him and in his great wisdom he said that I should be taking a date not him. Well at that time Karrie said that she was going to go but came to the party instead and I said something like well do you want to go? And she said sure and off we went. In hind sight this was my first glimpse of Karrie's spontaneity and her adventurist attitude. I still remember the Jazz were playing the Philadelphia 76ers and Karrie says I don't remember anything. Other than shutting the car door on her foot the date went really good. At least from my perspective. Little did I know that night that Karrie would be the last girl I would date. I had known Karrie in high school and we had been in the same ward but I really had not seen her in over 2 years. I remembered her as a sophomore with short hair and now she was 19 long hair and she looked great. I think the first thing I noticed about Karrie was her beautiful dark brown eyes, they drew me in and have never let me go. I Love you Karrie
Friday was a busy but fun day. After the swim meet Karrie and I had told Payton and Riley that we would take them to the U of U women's soccer game. Payton had received five tickets from the soccer league that she plays in and since it was not cool enough for Micah and Mariah we let the girls take a friend. I thought it might turn into one long night (soccer + cold weather = long cold night). But I was surprised the soccer was actually fun to watch. I guess the only soccer I have really watched is the little kids and to see these college teams play I was impressed with how athletic they are and how fast the game moved. It wasn't very crowded so we got good seats. We stayed warm with a few blankets and a hot chocolate run at halftime. It was a good game the UTES won 4-3. At the end of the game the girls got to go down on the field and make a tunnel for the players to run through, now that is something you could not do at a U of U football game. They also got to run around on the field and Payton just happened to have her soccer ball with her, imagine that.
Well the swim season officially started on Friday for Mariah. She swam in the 50 freestyle, the 500 and a couple of relay races. She usually doesn't swim the 50 but she did good (she was in the fastest heat). Then in the 500 she took 4 seconds off of her best time. I know 4 seconds doesn't sound like a lot but in swimming it is. Last year from the start of the season to the end she took a whole minute off of her time. Before last year I had never been to a swim meet and I didn't realize how exciting they are. I have actually helped a high school swimmer find a scholarship so you think I would have at least been to a meet. Anyways I am excited to watch Mariah as she progresses throughout the year. I think she has a good chance of making state.
Well tonight was Payton's last road game until the spring. Karrie now being in the Stake YW's had to go to a meeting tonight and give a talk. So it was just Payton, her friend Megan and me. We had to be in Mountain Green at 5 so we left about 4:15 and I was worried about traffic and although there were a lot of cars we were always driving at 70 I think the Legacy Highway is really helping. It was not to cold when we left our house but I told Payton to wear her under armor and she was glad she did. We got up in those mountains and the wind was blowing and it was cold,there is snow on the peaks. Payton played a really good game and her team won 1-0.
(CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE) This is the new Revolution Speed football helmet. It is a new design with all the safety features of the Revolution helmet. It's official release was the 15th of October but the NFL and some big time colleges have already got them and are wearing them. I was able to see and inspect them at our annual meeting in Chicago. They have a very comfortable liner and the facemask are designed to provide more unobstructed viewing angles. I can't wait to start showing them to people as soon as my sample helmet gets here. If anyone wants to buy one just let me know, don't pay retail!!! MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY MOST RECENT BLOG ABOUT THE SPEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
O.K. in my last post about our game against Olympus I said that they were the worst team we had played in the whole seven years Micah has been playing football. Well after playing the West Jordan Jaguars today, I am really not sure which is the worse team. Yes they were that bad. FYI in the season match up between Olympus and West Jordan, Olympus won 7-6. Well our game started today with them kicking off and us returning it for a touchdown. The score was 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. I actually felt bad for those kids, they only had 3 subs on the sideline maybe because of UEA. And they only had 1 coach. It was a fun game for our kids because everyone got to play different positions and more of our lineman got to run the ball and score. One of Micahs friends (who's nickname is the "The Stripper" because he strips the ball from the other team) has been on the same team with Micah since they were 8 and has always been an X player until this year. Today he got to play quite a bit at running back and scored a touchdown and the extra point. On the extra point he dragged at least four Jaguars into the end zone. Micah had a really good day he ran one in for a touchdown and then he made an interception and returned it to the 1 yard line. It was fun to watch the kids who have never scored before get a touchdown. They sure deserved it. We ended up winning the game 55-6. We did however suffer our first big injury of the year, one of our running backs got tackled and fell on his shoulder and broke his collar bone.
Karrie and I took the girls to Lagoon for a couple of hours today and we saw this sign while waiting in line for the Spider. Lagoon is looking out for us, I was just about ready to scale the six foot wall to have a sit on the pointed rod iron fence. Its a good thing I took up that readin' stuff in school. Do you really think Lagoon has had a problem with people sitting on this thing??? I know they would only do it once.
Wow what a difference a week can make. After have been in battles the last two weeks with Bingham and Riverton we had Olympus this last week. We had heard that Olympus was not that good, they had beat West Jordan 7-6 but that was there only win. So last week we made sure everyone on our team would have a starting position on either offense or defense. They were pretty good size, but then again we are not that big so everyone tends to look big. Well we got the ball and scored, we kicked off and they ran the ball back to the ten and I am thinking oh crap. Well we held them on 4 downs and got the ball back and drove down and scored again. We scored almost at will the half time score was 34-0. In the second half we moved our players around to spots they had never played before, two of our lineman who are not X players got to run the ball and they each scored a touchdown which was pretty cool. The final score was 47-0. In the 7 years I have coached these boys this was by far the worst team we have played.
Well after being blown away about how tough Payton's spelling words were, she went and got a 100% on her test! I am very proud of her for learning those words in such a short time. Way to go Payton. I have to also give Riley her props, she also got 100% on her test. They must take after there Mom.
O.K. I know I am no Einstein as a matter a fact I get remind by my beautiful wife that I am and I quote "sharp as a marble". But check out the spelling words Payton has this week. I had spelling words like these when I was in school the only difference is I was in High School and not a 9 year old 4th grader. I don't think I could spell all the words on her list. O.K. o.k. I know I couldn't as a matter of fact I am not sure I am pronouncing some of them correctly. But really when was the last time you had to spell the word quintessential in a sentence or even use it in conversation??? What would we do with out spell check? Seriously though I am amazed at how much kids can learn and do if just given the chance. Maybe I can still impress Riley with my knowledge of her spelling words? After all how hard could 2nd grade spelling be, right?????
Well this week we had Riverton and we knew it would be a tough game, last year we beat them by a point. We lost 6-0 ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! The Refs were a lot better this week, although one did signal a touchdown for Riverton once when they crossed the 10 yard line. Our defense played really good again only giving up one big play for a touchdown. It is hard to lose when you only give up six points, the last two weeks we have only given up 13 points total. Today we did not help ourselves at all. We had a big punt return that got us down to about there 20 but it was called back for a block in the back. So instead of being 20 yards away we ended up being more like 60 yards. Then we had a big pass for a first down that got called back because of a hold. We just made to many mistakes on offense today. We have not scored in two weeks!! I was impressed again with our boys, they just keep fighting until the end, they don't give up and they leave it all out on the field. Oh I forgot to mention it was pouring rain the whole game. So after Micahs game ends at 3:30 we have about an hour before Paytons soccer game, so we hurried and ate at Sonic then it was off to soccer. This soccer complex in West Jordan is GIGANTIC. You have to drive to the different parts it is so big, unfortunately the parking is not so big. Well this tournament that Paytons team is in has some really good teams and we played one of them today. We lost something like 6 or 7 to 1 I stopped keeping track after the first 10 min. we were the first team to score on them however. Payton played goalie for the first half and it was non stop action for her, she did a real good job. She is fearless and dives onto that ball with no regards to all the feet trying to kick it.
This picture was taken right before the Copper Hills game a couple of Sat. ago.I thought it was cool how the sun was coming down through the clouds. All I had was my cell phone camera so it is not the greatest photo.
O.k. I need to vent a little. Let me preface this by saying I hate to complain about referees because I know it is usually the losing team that does that BUT today was horrible. We had a Ref on our sideline that did not call anything all day except 3 sideline warnings for us being to close to the field(and maybe for expressing our feelings on his lack of officiating). I would not be as upset if I felt he just made bad calls because I understand people see things differently but he was just inept he would not make a call and he really blew a call by doing nothing at all. The game was a real battle the score was 0-0 with about 50 seconds to go they had the ball and we stripped the ball from there running back and one of our players jumped on the ball and was down. Well a Bingham kid jumped on ours and wrestled the ball away from us. The ref from the other side did not have a good view and all he saw was the Bingham player come out with the ball however the ref on our side had the same view as us but he would not blow his whistle and tell the other ref what he saw. It was like he was afraid to say anything to the older refs. Just to show you his knowledge of the game he was suppose to be officiating, we asked him if the game goes into overtime do we start from the 10? We all knew the answer but wanted to see what he said...Well he thought for a second and then said "I don't know" are you kidding me? We pay for this??? There really should be some sort of qualifications that the officials should meet. Anyways it was like not have an official on our side of the field.O.k. I am done.
ON THE BRIGHTER SIDE.....
The game was a defensive battle and know one could score they drove the ball a few times but we always stopped them down inside the 20. Micah had a great game he had an interception in the end zone and had several good runs. But he doesn't care because we lost the game. Bingham scored with 10 seconds left. Which they shouldn't have even had the ball because of the fumble. I don't know if we would have won for sure, but it should have gone into overtime. We beat them in 3 overtimes the last time we played and there is a good chance we could see them again in the playoffs. I was really proud of our boys they fought hard and never gave up. Bingham is so much bigger than us but we did not back down. We just have to put this game behind us and get ready for Riverton.
Well Saturday started early for us, we had a 9:00 am game @ Copper Hills (7800 S0. 5200 W) We met at McDonalds and left at 7:15. We had game film on Copper Hills so we felt prepared as possible. The field was pretty crappy it was high on one end of the field than the other so you were either running up hill or downhill slightly. During warm ups on of our players was running out for a pass and just fell, I could not figure out what he was doing then he stood up and said there was a hole. We went and looked and there was a hole a good 5-6 inches deep, he was lucky he didn't break his ankle. We put one of are orange cones in it and you could only see about 2 inches sticking out. They did come and fill it in about the 2nd quarter. Once the game started we played pretty good, Micah had some big runs and we were moving the ball really well until we fumbled it. :( But our defense was tough and we got the ball back and ended up scoring 20 points in the first half and we did not let them score. In the 2nd half we didn't score but we kept them from scoring until about 2 minutes left in the game. The nice thing about being up by 20 is that you can get everyone into the game and get them more minutes than they might get in a tight game And they deserve it after all they work hard all week in practice. After Saturday everyone in our league has at least one loss so there is like a 5 way tie for first place. It will be a tight race right till the end, last year we had a 4 way tie for 2nd place and had to have a playoff to get in. Micah running the ball for a first down.
So Wed. night in practice Micah was diving for a fumble and landed on his shoulder and it kind of just stuck in the turf. I did not realize at the time that he had hurt it. At the end of practice he told me it was bothering him and what had happened but he kept practicing so I thought it was nothing more than a bruise. Knock on wood Micah has not been hurt to often. It bothered him a bit that night and I told him to see how it felt in the morning, well in the morning it still hurt but he got up and went to school and I kind of forgot about it until he texted me and said it hurt and did not feel right. So I took him in and got it looked at and he had strained some muscle around the rotator cuff. They said it was the most rare muscle to strain on the rotator cuff. Anyways the good news is it was not the rotator cuff and that it would heal on it's own with a little help from some daily Aleve for 10 days. Micah was bummed because they told him NO contact for 2-3 days because it is really weak and if he got hit or fell on it wrong he could make it worse, which means he had to watch all the contact drills at practice. He tried to tell me it felt fine and he could hit but I reminded him that he could make it worse and maybe miss the game. So he did the smart thing and just watched. But he should be o.k. to play Sat. This Sat. we play Copper Hills who we barely beat last year by a touchdown.
Well it is already Thursday and I thought I better mention last Sat. game against Jordan before we play again. Last Saturday we played Jordan and it proved to be a close game. Last year we beat Jordan pretty good. But because of the rule that Sophomores can play down on the 9th grade teams last year really doesn't mean much. From what we heard this Jordan team has 6 Sophomores. They had won there first two games and had not even been scored on, although they were not against really tough teams. The game started out really tough. We got the ball first and went on a long drive that took the whole first quarter but we didn't score. Then we went back and forth they couldn't score and we couldn't score a real defensive battle. Then in the 2nd quarter we scored on an interception, our end made a really good play and picked of a screen pass and returned it about 40 yards for the score. Then we scored again on a long pass and that was how the game stayed until the last about 3 min of the game when Jordan picked off a pass and then scored on the next play so it was 14-7 with about 3 min left. We got the ball but could not get a first down so we had to punt. They then scored again on another long pass. But then they fumbled the snap on the extra point and we got the ball back and ran out the clock. The final score Viewmont 14 - Jordan 13. Whew!!!!!!
Isn't it funny that in our busy lives it is sometimes the small thoughtful things that can really make your day. Payton left this on my white board in my office.
Well I am home from Chicago. I am disappointed in the mobile blogger, I set this whole blog up so I could blog and post pictures for my family while I was gone. By the way the mobile blogger works great from home. I thought I would put down some of the events anyways.O.k. so I am walking up Michigan Ave. in the pouring rain with Greg another Riddell rep. When a woman coming out from the opposite directions get right up next to me and yells out "Hey Baby" I was a bit surprised and managed to get out a "hey" back at her, I just kept walking afraid to look back in fear she might be following. I looked over at Greg who was laughing and said " I guess I still got it" even though she was obviously drunk and had a wooden leg. O.k. I am not sure she had a wooden leg but she had one heck of a limp. If nothing else it was good for a laugh. Also when I was leaving in O'Hare waiting for my plane I saw Oprah's boyfriend checking in at the same gate. I wasn't sure who he was at first just that he looked familiar and yes I am embarrassed to know what Oprah's boyfriend looks like. Then I heard the ticket agent say his name so I called Karrie and asked if that was him and sure enough it was.
Well it is that time of year that I head off to my annual meetings with Riddell. I thought it would be a good time to try the mobile blogger. So here I go, all of the pictures are taken with my phone so they might not be that great. I hate leaving my family any time of the year but it is really hard this time of the year because I miss a football game (Micah's) and I am nervous the whole time calling Karrie trying to get updates and today we lost to Brighton so it makes it that much worse. Well today was pretty uneventful I spent 3 hours on a plane getting to Chicago and another hour getting luggage and waiting for the bus to take us to the resort. When I started with Riddell I made friends with 3 other guys that I was trained with Luke who is from Southern California and Kevin who is from Boston and Dan who is from Miami. The best part of this 4 day event is getting to hang out with them. The hotel is a really nice Hilton resort about 30 min. outside of Chicago. When I got on the Bus Luke was on the same bus so we got caught up. The last 2 years I roomed with a guy from Alabama. So when I was checking in today I thought I would be with the same guy but I was happy to find out that I was rooming with Luke. Luke is a good guy, a fairly new Dad his daughter is almost 2 and he is also a college football coach in California so we always have something to talk about. After we got to the Hotel they had lunch/dinner for us then we had to sit through 2 long, long hours of the opening meeting. Tomorrow will be a long day of classes they start at 8:30 and go til 4:30 with an hour for lunch and I thought church was long! Well this is a pretty boring blog, but so was my day. I really miss not being able to tuck my girls into bed at night and locking down the house. I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well as of today December 17th 2008 Micah is now legal to start driving.(with a parent).
.JPG)
